Lunch at Fullerton

I guess the title says it all.

Monday blues still gloomed over me when my supervisor told me that the client is coming in today. Last minute revisions rushes here and there, whammy it, and presented to the client.

For your information, this is the first time I come face to face interactin with a real client. She's affable and might be demanding to some extent, but it was for the cause of what her company was achieving.

After presenting our media plans and proposals of what we recommend, she just got back to us quickly that they only like 2 things on the plan. Damn it, and I worked so hard for the rest of the other stuff. That's because they didn't have the budget to spend much more. Damn the economic climate.

After I resisted pulling out all her hair, which I restrained myself, my supervisor's boss said, "Let's go for lunch!".

My ears perked up like Xiaxues' whenever we pass by a LOTR poster with Legolas and his silky rebonded blonde hair.

The next sentence caught me off guard. "There's a nice Indian buffet at the Fullerton hotel." I almost wanted to jump off OUB centre in glee. (Just so you know, my office is located 40 floors and above, you can imagine how high, huh?)

I had to cancel lunch with Gwen through a sms as this was an opportunity too good to be missed. Dontcha think so?

My supervisor, my supervisor's boss, the client and I approached the significant Fullerton grandeur at approximately 12.45 pm.

I have never stepped into Fullerton hotel, very swakoo, I know. But the fact lies that Fullerton is so reputable and their service is so impeccable, a visit there is like a field trip to the Science Centre as though you were a primary school kid.

We sat at a nice quiet table, cutlery was glowing and the opulence radiated from the bright friendly waiters to the marble floor. I, on the other hand, was nervous like a school kid as I just didn't want to screw anything up like breaking a vase pot or the fine china.

We sat down, and we headed to the buffet table. I didn't know where to begin.

Black beans and lentils. Yucks. Fruit salad. Looks inviting. Yellow rice. Should I? Mutton. Grab it.

Those were the thoughts flowing through my mind. I was the last to sit back at the table while the rest were just doing casual conversation and it came to my realization after I saw where they had picked up.

Everyone was having appetizers. And there I was, skipping the appetizers and diving straight to my main course. What did I learn in my module of Professional Preperation? So, I try to pose pose act act a bit like some elegant kid which you people know, I can't act like an elegant bastard for nuts.

So while everyone was using their salad fork, I meekly utilized my main fork and knife. Just hoping they didn't noticed. But, I HAD to make them noticed. I "clanged" my knife hidden under the saucer, like the chimes of a chapel, shook them to their attention. I meekly apologized.

I am such a klutz.

After the initial humiliation, I thought I was on relative safe ground. They were chatting and there I was enjoying my sumptuous mutton. But, since it was only polite that I had to wait for them to finish their appetizers. So, not to look as awkward as I already I am, I kept drinking water.

Drinking. Drinking. Drinking. I drank 2 cups before I got up with the rest for the PROPER main course buffet.

I dug once again with copious scoops of mutton and I restrained myself to take more sumptuous meat. I remind myself, I'm in the presence of certain people, and I cannot look like a glutton. I restrained and took a side scoop of the salad, and PURPOSEDLY taking more grapes because they were so big and juicy!

Back at the table once again, I felt more comfortable as they talk about business opportunities that they can link our clients' services up. Yadda, yadda. I absorbed some parts of the conversation but my full attention was on my thosai and my boneless mutton which was "A" delicious.

I ate with relish, only to find out the rest of my counterparts could only keep their stomachs full of air as they kept yakking and yakking. Luckily, I had my side scoop of salad, which I kept aside happily.

Picking up my salad fork, I tried to poke the juicy little grape. The skin was so smooth that it grazed the fork when I poked and the grape popped off my plate and landed on the sparking marble floor.

I thought I almost died of embarrassment right then and there. I felt like poking the fork in my eyes.

The waitress calmly smiled at me, squatted down and pick my innocent grape up and lifted it off the "dropped food rubbish department". And a lucky thing for me, was that the people at my table didn't notice my little indiscretion. I hoped.

As I waited for them to finish their main course and me wanting to dunk myself into a cooler of ice due to mortification of bad table manners, I kept drinking water to calm a bit of myself.

Then, it came to dessert where the client encouraged me to go with her to visit the "sin" table.

Now, this is an Indian buffet and hence, there was no widespread array of chocolate coated triple layer cakes which I hoped for but there was Ice-cream. Mango flavoured.

I love Wall's Mango flavoured ice-cream. Yummy! I knew that Fullerton's one should be even better.

I got back to my table and with that tiny tattle of a spoon, scooped the mini scoop of mango ice-cream.

To horrors of all horrors, mango ice-cream is not mango ice-cream as it was stated on the little card label in front. It was in fact, freshly-craved-and-made-mango-ice-cream with some peas and corn inside it.

One scoop to see the insides, and I was rather disgusted. I took a little bite into the fusion of veggie and mango ice-cream, I was even more disgusted.

As my client took her own sweet time with the yucky mango concoction, I drank more water to repel the awful tang stuck on my taste buds.

The bill came,and my boss supervisor paid. I glanced slightly for this hourly lunch session spent at the grandest hotel in Singapore. $131 for 4 people. That can burn a hole in my pocket AND it is worth a week of my intern slave job.

My lunch at Fullerton. My full scoop of my first time having lunch with an advertising client. Just avoid that scoop of hand-made mango ice-cream.

Fullerton-Swakoo-no-more,
Benjamin

P.S. I drank 5 cups of water at least. For $30, it's 5 cups of FULLERTON plain water and some chunks of juicy mutton. I'm such a klutz. Sue me.